diff --git a/scripts/release/release-as b/scripts/release/release-as
index 85f1f4564a4bd4997caf0c2a42744fb38118ef6a..f3663cecb994ddc4902ea23a5e9458e1c3a5565a 100755
--- a/scripts/release/release-as
+++ b/scripts/release/release-as
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ if [[ -w configure.ac && -r configure.ac && \
     commit_to_release=$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
   fi
   git clone -b "$commit_to_release" . "$tmpsrcdir"
+  if [[ -f "${reconfCmd}" && ! -x "${tmpsrcdir}/${reconfCmd}" ]]; then
+    cp -p "${reconfCmd}" "${tmpsrcdir}/${reconfCmd}"
+  fi
   pushd "$tmpsrcdir"
   # reinstate git hooks
   scripts/git-hooks/install-standard-git-hooks